The relationship between sex roles, fertility, and family size preferences

Interviews regarding sex-role attitudes, sex-role behaviors, fertility, and fertility preferences were conducted with 583 currently married women aged 18 through 49. Separate correlational analyses for blacks, Anglos, and Hispanic women revealed that for Anglos and blacks sex-role attitudes appeared to be more highly associated with children raised and desired fertility than did division of household tasks and decisions. Past and present role behavior outside of the family (i.e., employment experience) were related to fertility and fertility preferences for all three groups. A path analysis, applied for Anglos only, indicated that number of children raised may influence sex-role behavior and attitudes which, in turn, may influence current fertility desires. However, the variable with the largest direct effect on total children desired was the number of children one already has. Various dimensions of sex roles influenced fertility desires in different ways. Traditionalism of attitudes had a positive effect while relative performance of feminine tasks had a negative effect on total number of children wanted.

Racial, religious, and national origin intermarriage in the U.S.: review of selected theory, method, and research

"This article summarizes the intermarriage literature with special reference to books and articles in the social sciences. The literature is partitioned into theoretical approaches, conceptualization and operationalization, computational formulas used in the reporting of intermarriage, general findings on the extent and types of intermarriage, [and] correlates of and attitudes toward racial, religious and national origin intermarriage. The authors conclude that a variety of theories and methods have [been] and continue to be employed to investigate this phenomenon. Among the findings reported are that racial intermarriages are least prevalent and national origin intermarriages the most prevalent in the United States."

[Migration mobility and movement of the population]

"The functions of migration are reviewed from the viewpoint of the demographic situation in the USSR (by regions, sex, age, education, profession, labour and social activity, nationality, rural-urban, etc.). Some effects of migration on fertility are shown. The authors investigate the role of the economic functions of migration for the process of professional mobility. The territorial mobility of the population is analysed on a wider scale as a part of the social mobility in the socialist society. In connection with this, some problems of the migration policy as an element of the demographic policy of the USSR are outlined." (summary in ENG, RUS)

Marriage and ethnicity in West Malaysia

"This paper will focus on ethnic differentials in the nuptiality of West Malaysia and on their evolution since the Second World War. The growing similarity of nuptiality patterns in the Malay, Chinese, and Indian communities will be outlined and the influence of age and sex distributions on the observed changes will be examined. The sources of data for this study are the 1947, 1957, and 1970 Population Censuses and the 1974 Malaysian Family and Fertility Survey."

Correlates of marital duration and black-white intermarriage in California

Characteristics of black and white intermarriages in California are examined. Findings indicate that "although there are many similarities between same-race and black-white intermarriages, marriages which involve black husbands and white wives differ in several respects from other types. Not only are they shorter in duration of marriage; they have fewer children or none at all; spouses rank relatively high in education...[and] they involve relatively few teenage marriages.... In addition, when black husbands are married to white wives, they are less likely than husbands in other marriages to file for divorce, leaving white wives to take that initiative, wives who tend to have slightly higher educational levels than their black husbands." The data are from a 10 percent sample of all marriages in 1977.

Ireland: an "emigrant nursery" in the world economy

"This paper focuses on historical and contemporary aspects of Irish emigration and argues that a world-systems, comparative approach avoids the pitfalls of behaviouralism and national exceptionalism in conventional accounts of Irish emigration. It suggests that causes and consequences vary with social class, ethnic group and regional context, compares 'traditional' with 'new wave' emigration and argues that it is premature to talk of the 'Europeanisation' of Irish emigration." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)

[The national census and indigenous Amazonian groups]

The author uses data from the 1981 Peruvian census to determine the size and characteristics of the indigenous population of the Amazon region. "The document includes a series of graphs and tables comparing ethnic group, province and district categories, which could constitute a first data base and an important source of comparison with information coming from the recent (1993) census." (SUMMARY IN ENG)

Ethnic intermixture of migrants and indigenous peoples in Australia

"Claims concerning the size of ethnic and indigenous communities need to be considered in the light of intermixture with other communities. Intermixture levels are in fact high for most of Australia's ethnic and indigenous peoples."

Self-selection, earnings and Chicano migration: differences between return and onward migrants

"The purpose of this article is to extend the empirical literature on Chicano return migration by examining earnings differentials between return and onward Chicano migrants. Our approach reflects the complexity of estimating such effects in terms of selectivity biases and the interaction between individual and locational attributes. We use data derived from the public use microdata sample (PUMS) of the 1990 U.S. census. After controlling for migration and labor force self-selection, results indicate that Chicano return migrants are not negatively self-selected. Chicano return migrants have smaller earnings profiles largely due to the negative effects of living in areas with higher concentrations of co-ethnics. Apparently, return migrants, at least in the short run, are willing to accept lower earnings for the nonpecuniary benefits of living in the Southwest."

Undocumented Latina immigrants in Orange County, California: a comparative analysis

"This article examines a unique data set randomly collected from Latinas (including 160 undocumented immigrants) and non-Hispanic white women in Orange County, California, including undocumented and documented Latina immigrants, Latina citizens, and non-Hispanic white women. Our survey suggests that undocumented Latinas are younger than documented Latinas, and immigrant Latinas are generally younger than U.S.-citizen Latinas and Anglo women. Undocumented and documented Latinas work in menial service sector jobs, often in domestic services. Most do not have job-related benefits such as medical insurance.... Despite their immigration status, undocumented Latina immigrants often viewed themselves as part of a community in the United States, which significantly influenced their intentions to stay in the United States. Contrary to much of the recent public policy debate over immigration, we did not find that social services influenced Latina immigrants' intentions to stay in the United States."

Mortality and causes of death of Moroccans in France, 1979-91

"The results of a study by Michele Tribalat showed that the death rates of immigrants in France were surprisingly low: they were not only better than the national average, but far better than the rates specific to the socio-occupational categories the immigrants belonged to. Was this due to observation errors, to selection of the fittest applicants for immigration, or to the fact that immigrants adapted positively, that is, by taking the best (health services, living conditions...) and leaving the worst (overnutrition, road accidents...)? [The authors] investigate these questions here with respect to Moroccans living in France, first by a general analysis, then by a study of the causes of death. They confirm the surprisingly low mortality of Moroccan immigrants. But incidentally, in the case of mobility within France, adult mortality was shown to be roughly 11% lower among men who had changed regions at least once than among those who had not."

Aboriginal marriage and survival

Patterns of marriage among the aboriginal population of Australia are investigated. The author attempts to determine "the economic significance of a method of family formation in which child-bearing is an essential component of the process....[and discusses the impact of] change in the micro-economies of Aboriginal households and families." Probabilities of change in marital status are also considered. Data are from the 1981 census.